Our Successes | Friends of the Earth Scotland

Our Successes

Penguins 461: Penguin March 2009 ©Maverick Penguins 461: Penguin March 2009 ©MaverickWe are an independent Scottish charity that was founded in 1978. For over three decades we have not been afraid to speak out and stand up for what we believe in.

We have:

Dumped old fridges on the steps of the Scottish Office
Taken the government to court over the construction of the M74
Inflated giant white elephants in public places and carbon dinosaurs in front of power stations
Dressed up in Borat Mankinis, as penguins, polar bears, fat cats, Bob the Builder, Donald Trump and Gordon Brown.

View our image gallery on Flickr and our video clips on You Tube.

Our campaign successes include:

The Scottish Climate Act - the best piece of climate change legislation in the world
Scottish Government backing for no nuclear power stations or GM crops in Scotland
Stopping the Harris super-quarry from being built
A law for Freedom of Information
Increased public participation in urban planning
A zero waste policy
An organic food and farming action plan
Increased recycling provision
More renewable energy
Tougher rule on opencast mining
Better strategic environmental assessment
More investment in energy efficiency.

International work

Thanks to the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland, we also had a long lasting project with the Cofan indigenous community in Ecuador, which has now been taken over by the community itself. The Cofan lost 90% of their land as a result of oil extraction and other developments. With our help the Cofan built a Youth Association which aims to build young people's skills, knowledge and self esteem to help them become advocates for human rights in their communities.